Our plentiful butterflies are easy to watch

A pair of Gulf fritillaries on Echinacea flowers. (Photo by Sherry Boas/Correspondent )

September 16, 2013|Sherry Boas, Simply Living

Butterflies are everywhere!

A pair of clouded sulphurs flits around the Cassia bush, their yellow wings in sharp contrast to the plant's green foliage. Nearby, a zebra longwing, the Florida state butterfly, has lit upon the firespike, a late season bloomer with clusters of tubular red flowers.

Near the house, two Gulf fritillaries hover near echinaceas and a painted lady is on bush sunflowers. A small Florida white butterfly weaves its way through a patch of overgrown grass, lighting at last on a slender blade. I squat down to get a closer look. Is it laying eggs? Absorbing moisture? Or is it simply resting, preparing to fly off again moments later?

Although my knowledge of the order Lepidoptera has expanded through the years, new questions arise with every sighting. Is it a male or female and of which species? Am I seeing a monarch or a viceroy? Has a palamedes swallowtail landed on the leaf or is it a spicebush swallowtail?

Not only do many butterfly and moth species share similar features, their quick, erratic movements make close inspections tricky. Nonetheless, I'm having fun learning.

Books and websites provide a wealth of facts and aid identification, but everything I've learned began first by paying attention to the winged beauties. Simple observation sparks curiosity. By watching, I realized that clouded sulphur butterflies are in constant motion, while others, such as the tiger swallowtail, pause long enough on a leaf or flower for me to snap numerous pictures.

Zebra longwings like to congregate at night among the pine trees. They form colonies, roosting in clusters on single branch. I didn't realize butterflies did this until I chanced upon such a grouping one evening at dusk when my husband, Ralph, and I were walking through the woods. What a surprise it was to discover dozens of zebra longwings resting in the same spot.

Puddling is another butterfly behavior I hadn't thought much about until recently. Every now and then, I notice butterflies lighting upon the ground. Sometimes they land on concrete and other times in muddy or sandy locations. Butterflies depend on flowers for nectar, so why do they sometimes land on surfaces with no nectar in sight? It turns out they do so to absorb water and essential minerals like salt. In most species, only male butterflies engage in puddling. The male then transfers those life-sustaining nutrients to a female when they mate.

I haven't seen butterflies mating very often, but I've frequently caught them doing an aerial dance. Because a butterfly has poor eyesight, the male must swoop close to a potential mate for a better look. If he correctly identifies another butterfly of the right species and sex, a courting ritual might ensue in which the two spiral upward until they eventually join in an amorous embrace.

Sometimes, however, the male encounters a butterfly of the same sex. When that happens, the two might engage in a territorial dispute. These displays look similar to the male-female courtship except they end with the butterflies parting ways instead of coming together.

A couple months ago, I chanced upon several monarch butterflies in a mating tumble. What began with two soon evolved into a mass entanglement. Butterflies engaging in group sex? Not exactly. The period of sexual arousal for butterflies is brief — sometimes lasting just minutes to hours.

During that time, the male releases powerful pheromones to attract a female. Apparently, the strong scent sends messages to other males as well. Sometimes the message says, "This is my territory. Stay away." Other times it's signal for battle. The tumble I saw probably involved several male butterflies participating in what scientists call "contest behavior" — vying for the favor of a single female. In the end, only one pair remained. Mission accomplished.

Of the 100 or so moth and butterfly species in Florida, I've probably identified slight more than a dozen and of those, I'd be hard-pressed to differentiate between the sexes. Such a disparity of knowledge could be seen as a huge task yet to accomplish or as the beginning of an exciting journey of discovery. Without hesitation, I choose the latter.

Sherry Boas can be reached at simplyliving@beautiful

bamboo.com. Her columns can be found online at OrlandoSentinel.com/lake.